Investigating the rivalry that used to be THE Rivalry: Notre Dame and Michigan

When college football rivalries are brought up in discussion, which often happens around these parts, many won't hesitate to say that the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry is one of the most prominent in the history of not only college football, but sports all together.

But in terms of importance, the rivalry between the Michigan Wolverines and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football teams may be the most important in college football.

And before you gather the angry mob of The Rivalry purists and sharpen your pitchforks, look at the history behind the game this weekend, a game between the two most winningest programs in the history of college football.

It was the fall of 1887 and Notre Dame transfer students William Harless and George DeHaven Jr. were forced to get off a train in South Bend, Ind. after their train broke down. Harless and DeHaven were the two leaders of the relatively new Michigan football team, and they needed some practice.

So, to do my part in fueling the fire that is this rivalry...

The Michigan football players taught Notre Dame students how to play the game. Literally. Pointing that out doesn't make me a Michigan homer. It's the God-given truth. But still, student section, take note.

For the next few years, the Wolverines completely dominated the national stage, going undefeated from 1901-04 under coach Fielding Yost with the infamous "Point-a-minute teams". Meanwhile, the Irish still learned the game.

After giving the Irish a few years to practice and leaving the Big Ten (crazy, right?), Michigan began playing teams outside of the conference to keep football prominent at the University.

It just so happens that this nine-year stretch outside of the Big Ten may arguably be the most important years in developing the Michigan team and schedule that you see today.

Michigan Athletic Director Charles Baird scheduled non-Big Ten teams Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan Agricultural College (later known as Michigan State) to fill the schedule. Without this stretch, it's hard to say whether the Buckeyes or Spartans would've been in the Big Ten.

With Michigan's triumphant return to the Big Ten, so came Notre Dame's hiring of their own legendary coach Knut Rockne, one of the best coaches in coolest names in college football history.

Along with Rockne, came Notre Dame's first All-American George "The Gipper" Gipp who still holds several records at Notre Dame. But "The Gipper" passed away in 1921 at the age of 25 as a result of pneumonia, prompting Rockne's most famous line, "Win one for the Gipper", which is to this day known as one of the greatest quotes in the history of sports.

Some pretty cool footage of Rockne before an Irish game:

Soon after Gipp's death, Rockne demanded that the Irish be allowed into the Big Ten, but it was a budding hatred between him and Fielding Yost that would cease that from being a possibility.

After disagreement over an All-American vote that Yost refused to cast, a dislike of one another was formed. Then, at the Big Ten Track Meet in 1923, an argument about hurdles pitted Yost against Rockne. Yost vowed that we would never allow Rockne and the Irish into the Big Ten as long as he lived.

Bentley Historical LibraryRockne: second from the left, Yost: far right. And yeah, that's Babe Ruth in the middle.

And so the questions still reside, who was the better coach Rockne or Yost? Both played a major part in the development of college football. Both are given credit (depending on the source) for the idea inception and assimilation of the forward pass into college football. But both were very different coaches and people, Yost operating out of the punt (now shotgun) formation and Rockne operating out of a box-like formation, which they hated each other for. Not to mention, Yost didn't approve of his thunder as one of the greatest coaches in the country being stolen by Rockne who stretched the Notre Dame program to the far ends of the country's media markets where the Catholic population was supportive. Their hatred for each other sparked a rivalry, and the two teams wouldn't see each other until 1943.

In light of Rockne's tragic death by plane crash in 1931, Yost (now Athletic Director) scheduled the Irish in 1942. Then-coach Fritz Crisler picked up right where Yost left off with hatred for the Irish's new coach, Frank Leahy, who would lead the Irish to four National Championships while Crisler only notched one in his ten years at Michigan.

Bad blood separated both schools until Athletic Director Don Canham decided to schedule the rivalry game once again in 1978, much to the chagrin of then-coach Bo Schembechler. The Irish had just won the National Championship the year before, and the Wolverines had just finished No. 9 in the country, so it was clearly a big game.

Schembechler hated Notre Dame. Just as Yost and Crisler did before him.

Notre Dame's coach at the time, Dan Devine, led his Irish into the locker room at halftime with a 14-0 lead over the Wolverines. Michigan quarterback Rick Leach was beaten and bruised, and the Wolverine offense was ineffective against Notre Dame's stacked defense.

In typical Bo fashion, the fierce Michigan coach ripped Rick Leach a new one in his office while strategically keeping the door open just enough for the rest of the team to hear.

Needless to say, Leach and the Wolverines won the game 28-14 in one of Michigan's most crowning victories in school history.

Naturally, the two most successful programs in the history of college football will have a rivalry, but this game goes farther back than any the University of Michigan can claim, despite only 36 games being played (with Michigan leading 20-15-1).

Both schools were some of the first to popularize college athletics, building much of their notoriety around football.

So we'll probably never solve who really "invented" the forward pass. And Yost's threat to Knute Rockne has kept the Irish out of the Big Ten to this day